Tag: Glenfinnan

Arisaig 2026 1: Getting There

An account of an epic journey from King’s Lynn in eastern England to Arisaig in the far west of Scotland, 14 hours door to door, with three photo galleries.

This is the first post in what will be a series about my annual holiday around the time of my birthday, which this year is in Arisaig, reachable by travelling to the westernmost railway station in mainland Britain. This post looks back at a long day’s travelling.

THE PLANNING

I was faced when I started looking at travel options with a choice between either leaving King’s Lynn on the 4:49AM train which would see me arrive in Arisaig at 5:28PM or a later train which would see me arrive at 11:30PM if all went well. Given that I was being met at Arisaig by my parents this was not really a choice at all and I duly accepted the necessity of a hyper-early start to the start.

THE DAY 1: KING’S LYNN TO GLASGOW

I left my flat just a tick after 4AM to walk to the station to catch my first train. I was there good and early and able to take a seat without fuss. My first change was at Ely, and although I had the longer interchange to make, using the curved subway from platform two to platform one I was never in danger of missing my next connection to Peterborough. At Peterborough I had a bit of a wait (it was full daylight and very sunny by then so this was no hardship). My train for the long northward haul to Edinburgh arrived more or less bang on time, and I found my seat without difficulty, and it was unoccupied, so I did not even have to get someone to move (there are people who ignore reservation signs and take prebooked seats, and I will make them move if they have taken mine). The train progressed smoothly through the east midlands and north east England to the Border Bridge at Berwick (the best way to enter Scotland) and then on to Edinburgh without any hitches, and I had enough time at the interchange to be waiting at the platform for my next connection. The run to Glasgow was also clear (Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city and Edinburgh, though smaller, is the capital, so services between the two are fast and frequent).

PHOTO GALLERY 1: TO GLASGOW

A goods train passing through Peterborough during my wait there. I have imaged models of locomotives named after football clubs at work but this was my first sight of one in the flesh.
The first of 28 pictures showing various containers on this freight train (no container is pictured more than once).
Yellow (at least in this country) is the colour of engineering trains.
passing the base of a volcanic rock on top of which there are buildings, just after leaving Waverley in the direction of Glasgow.

THE JOURNEY 2: GLASGOW TO FORT WILLIAM

The journey from Glasgow to Arisaig, a run of just over five hours, covers some of the most scenic railway in Britain. Between Glasgow and Fort William there is a splendid section travelling across Rannoch Moor, which features Corrour, seven miles from the nearest road among others. This section would be THE highlight of most routes of which it was part, but places second to the route beyond Fort William in this case.

PHOTO GALLERY 2: GLASGOW TO FORT WILLIAM

Crianlarich is a dividing point – some of the train splits of and goes to Oban while the remainder continues to Mallaig. It is pretty much an impossibility for anyone to to get caught out because the on-train staff are very attentive to such matters.
Decoration at Upper Tyndrum

THE JOURNEY 3: FORT WILLIAM TO ARISAIG

Unfortunately this, the most scenic section of the entire day, also saw the worst weather, and rain spattered windows are not the best medium through which to take photographs. However barring a minor delay at Glenfinnan, where we had to wait for the outgoing train from Mallaig before we could continue the run was smooth, and the scenery was still splendid. We arrived more or less on schedule at Arisaig, and I was met by parents for the last short part of the journey to our accommodation. In all, from my door in King’s Lynn to that of the cottage we are staying in took almost precisely 14 hours.

PHOTO GALLERY 3: FROM FORT WILLIAM ONWARDS

The final tranche of photos from this epic day…

rain spattered windows reduce its splendour, but I think my three pictures of the glorious Glenfinnan Viaduct are still pretty good.
There is something splendidly paradoxical about a snow plough with solar panels attached.
This signboard/ map greets those disembarking at Arisaig, an experience I had not previously had.

Scotland – Thursday: Farewell to the Jacobite

The final stages of The Jacobite jnourney.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in the series I am doing about my holiday in Scotland. This post brings to an end the account of The Jacobite train journey. 

THE LAST STAGE OF THE TRAIN JOURNEY

Once we were able to move on from Glenfinnan we encountered no further hitches and the train chugged into Fort William at 3:55PM, within a few minutes of the stated return time. 

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A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS
ON “THE JACOBITE”

This is unquestionably a very fine train journey, and to experience it on a steam train added something to it. However, I have to disagree with the ‘selectorate’ who named it The World’s Greatest Train Journey. Inlandsbanan in Sweden is one that I rate ahead of it, the other section of this same railway, Glasgow to Fort William, is as impressive in its own way, sweeping across a moor that sees it at one point seven miles from the nearest road, and as you will be seeing later in this series of posts the rail route from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness is pretty special as well. 

 

Scotland – Thursday – Mallaig to Glenfinnan

The account of the first half of the return journey on The Jacobite.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in my series about my holiday in Scotland. This post commences the coverage of the return journey from Mallaig to Fort William on The Jacobite.

EXPLANATION

Why am I covering the return journey? Because although I was still on the non-ideal side of the train, rge fact that the locomotive runs around the train to be attached to the opposite end did mean that I was facing the direction of travel for the return journey, which meant that I got more and better photos than on the outward run.

MALLAIG TO GLENFINNAN

Although we would not be stopping for long enough for anyone to disembark on this return journey we would have a stop at Glenfinnan to allow a regular service to pass us. Thus, Glenfinnan once again forms a logical break poiny.

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Glenfinnan Viaduct through the window.

 

Scotland – Thursday: Glenfinnan to Mallaig

An account of the Glenfinnan-Mallaig section of The Jacobite journey.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to another post in my series about my holiday in Scotland. This post covers the second half of the outward journey on The Jacobite, ending with our arrival at Mallaig. 

HEADING WEST

Although we did not stop between Glenfinnan and Mallaig, two stops before Mallaig on the regular route is Arisaig which has the distinction of being the westernmost mainline railway station on the British mainland. 

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ARISAIG – MALLAIG

The finish of the journey provided few photo opportunities, although travelling back the other way (a journey I had previously made on a regular train in 1993) made up for this.

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The locomotive at Mallaig station – there are more shots of this to come in my next post, this being an aperitif.

Scotland – Thursday: Fort William to Glenfinnan

An account of the Fort William – Glenfinnan section of The Jacobite journey.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in the series about my holiday in Scotland. Today we deal with the first section of The Jacobite journey, including a stop at Glenfinnan. 

ON THE TRAIN

The train was full, although of course on a journey of this nature no-one was made to stand by the time we got under way exactly according to schedule. The limitations that an aisle seat facing against the direction of travel impose on photography notwithstanding I did get some pictures.

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The first station beyond Fort William

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The first of two shots that I got featuring the Glenfinnan Viaduct on the outward journey.

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A view from the Glenfinnan Viaduct

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Approaching Glenfinnan station.

AT GLENFINNAN STATION

At Glenfinnan we had a stop of about 20 minutes. There is a small museum there, but I did not venture in. Unfortunately the circular walk was too long to accomplish in the time available, so I acquainted myself with the station and augmented my stock of photos. I was not going to take any chances time wise because we had been warned when we needed to back on the train by, and such warnings need to be backed by action, i.e leaving late returners behind, if they are to have any force.

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Ironic that the London and North Eastern should be featured here given that as you will be seeing in a later post while North we are most certainly not East.

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The Jacobite at Glenfinnan station .

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The Oban branch diverges from this line at Crianlarich, between Glasgow and Fort William.

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